The Only Thing There Is to Want

“The Only Thing There is to Want is Sarah Hepola’s courageous and compelling exploration of the gap between the life we imagine and the life we create—a life shaped by loves given and taken away. Hepola’s profound insights and masterful storytelling reveal how our most complicated relationships often pave the path to self-understanding.”—Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

“A wickedly lovable account of three lost loves. Hepola’s self-deprecating candor and perfectly paced storytelling make this book anything but the boohoo-fest you might imagine. Possibly the perfect gift for a friend going through a breakup.”—Oprah Daily

“A moving memoir. Hepola can be a wonderfully sharp writer.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Hepola writes with . . . seductive extravagance. The book is honest and revealing, like a fast-paced, late-night conversation with a good friend—an unstinting recounting of relationships, but also the tale of how a person arrives at a greater understanding of the self.”—Vogue, Best Books of 2026

“A dazzling, insightful, original, and hilarious memoir . . . Readers will have their hearts broken alongside Hepola, and they will grow hoarse cheering for her satisfaction and liberation. Best of all, they will revel in her singular voice and hard-won wisdom as she proves that, when it comes to memoir, sheʼs one of the best to ever do it.”—Christie Tate, New York Times bestselling author of Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life

“[Sarah] Hepola’s prose consistently spins ordinary circumstances into gold; every interaction is scintillating, every scrap of dialogue witty. This bittersweet account offers a tart and intelligent assessment of the tussle to find lasting love.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Fans of Blackout will recognize the same fearless honesty and propulsive readability. The tone is so casual, so conversational, that it’s easy to miss just how good a writer Hepola is: The prose is precise even when it’s taking risks, unexpected turns of phrase landing with the ease of a friend talking you through her worst nights. A brilliant autopsy of loves lost.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Sarah Hepola writes with so much heat about the pull toward a turn-your-soul-inside-out closeness. . . . a demonstration of her seductive powers: Her writing is magnetic, incandescent, and gripping.”—Susan Burton, author of Empty

“Imagine if Girls and Fleabag had a baby. That’s the kind of grit, humor, nostalgia, and darkness you’ll find in these pages.”—Ruthie Ackerman, author of The Mother Code: My Story of Love, Loss, and the Myths That Shape Us

“Sarah Hepolaʼs witty, candid, and gripping portrait of modern love plumbs the depths of desire, heartbreak, and a form of grief we don’t often name—capturing something essential about the search for connection in our disjointed age.”—Ada Calhoun, New York Times bestselling author of Why We Can’t Sleep and Crush

“In this candid, witty, and reflective memoir, Hepola reminds us that while some relationships come and go, the best love stories are the ones that exist in our life all along.”—Kerry Docherty, author of Selfish